Pacific Northwest Trip Summer 2010 Day 5 Friday July 30

UPDATED: February 5, 2022

People weren't dainty getting in and out of bed last night but otherwise relatively quiet last night.  "Slept in" and got up around 7.  Probably combo of body getting used to here plus last few days' pace being unsustainable.  Happily my plans include a slightly slower pace for next 3 days. Plan is to go to Olympic Sculpture Park, breakfast back here, then off to Issaquah.

[NOW: The above was written in the morning; the rest I wrote in the evening.]

Yes, well, I suppose I'd better do this report.  If I don't people will imagine something worse than what happened this afternoon.

First off, one thing I forgot from yesterday that was amusing: a seagull/food critic pooped on my McDonald's bag while I was at the International Fountain; luckily as the bird and its friend flew by the bag was empty.
 

The day started out okay. Walked to Olympic Sculpture Park.  The nude man and boy facing each other statue, likely beloved by NAMBLA was there but the fountain obscured the man.  The giant ampersand on the pole was nowhere to be found.  Pole yes, ampersand, no.  It was pretty eerie there due to the fog that eventually lifted.  Also crossed over into Myrtle Edwards Park briefly.

[NOW: The nude statue is Father & Son. The ampersand is back with the Love & Loss piece.]

Went downtown and in the Downtown Transit Tunnel took a bus to Mercer Island.  Wanted to see the sea from the north end, but it was uphill and it looked like rich houses would block my way.  Checked Walgreen's unsuccessfully for more XD memory cards. Stayed longer than I planned because I found an interesting sculpture park there as well.

[NOW: This park was the I-90 Outdoor Sculpture Park, now Greta Hackett Outdoor Sculpture Gallery.]

Took another bus to Issaquah Park & Ride where I did a long hike to Cougar Mountain Zoological Park. A cougar kept licking his chops as he looked at me.  There were baby wallabies.  One macaw in particular kept saying "Hello" except once when he said "Peekaboo".  The baby tigers from last year were now adults.

[NOW: The zoo is now called simply Issaquah Zoo.]

I hiked back east and grabbed a lunch at Burger King, including a $1 Icee drink. Went to the north end and took pics of a pond and visited a Barnes & Noble in that area.  Grabbed another $1 Icee from the Burger King then headed east.  Around this time I noticed a memory card missing.  I knew it had to be in the area I just explored, just past the BK, so I retraced my route for 1h10 or so, the original walk around the area it could have dropped out having taken about 40 min.  No luck.  I just missed a bus (it was in front and I waved and waved but no luck again), so I did a little more retracing.  Lost forever are the pics I took today of the Mercer Island sculptures and all the zoo pics.

[NOW: Issaquah's Barnes & Noble has closed. The card thankfully did turn up later in the trip.]

Also missing while I'm on the subject: my 2010 Not for Tourists guide and also my receipt from Hollywood Video; the latter wouldn't normally be a concern but DVDs I paid 60c for have $9.99 and $14.99 price stickers on them). Not necessarily all lost at once, probably not in fact.

[NOW: I think the receipt finally turned up but not the guide book. Hollywood Video is now defunct.]

I decided to explore one more section of Issaquah because I incorrectly believe the next bus was later than it was.  Soundsations at Issaquah Commons was gone but at the same place I bought some extra memory cards for more than I would have at London Drugs in Victoria.  Needed to hedge my bets because they're becoming scarce.

I finally got on a bus to Rainier Freeway Station and took another bus from there to the Walgreen's just outside of Columbia City.  Bought a couple of Vanilla Coke bottles.  Visited Bookworms in Columbia then walked to Seward Park, a nice beach/hiking area where in some areas you can clearly see Mercer Island.  Swam a bit, then walked around the park; I saw one woman apparently doing a model shoot for another woman.  Walked along some of the more woods area but I didn't enjoy that part so much and due to the earlier chaos wanted to leave for Seattle Center (for some reason I thought that the next bus might be the last of the day; maybe it was that way last year).

[NOW: Bookworm Exchange is now closed.]

At the Orange Julius in Seattle Center's Center House I learned you can upsize your drink with the meal so I had a burger, fries and large strawberry Julius.  Relaxed a while at the International Fountain.  Some girls actually fed the seagulls cotton candy there. Still wanting to comfort myself some more, bought some more DVDs at Silver Platters (foreign, documentary, b-movies) and at Easy St Records (most $3)

[NOW: Center House is now called the Seattle Center Armory, and they’ve evicted Orange Julius. That Silver Platters moved to 1st Ave S.]

So the day wasn't a total loss and I think I'm doing all I really card to feel better, but that missing card plus the extra lost 2 hours that followed from the search and missing the bus has knocked some of the enthusiasm for the trip.  I'm just going to let my body feel what it wants to feel and not try to force any mood on myself.  Lecturing myself or having others lecture me on moods never works as well as just letting time pass.  

[NOW: The trip never recovered entirely from this day but the cards turning up helped a lot.]